Though each Resident Evil sequel has arrived with subtitles that suggested some finality, the presently non-subtitled Resident Evil 5 moves forward after the franchise-high gross of the fourth movie, Resident Evil: Afterlife. Afterlife exploded at the foreign box office, making over $236 million. That was nearly two and a half times as much as Extinction and about as much as the first three movies combined.

Domestically, Afterlife wasn't as spectacular, generating $60.1 million last year, around 80 percent of which from its 3D presentations. That was up from Extinction's $50.6 million, Apocalypse's $51.2 million and the first movie's $40.1 million, and it was the second-highest grossing zombie-themed movie after Zombieland. However, Afterlife's attendance hit a franchise low.

Resident Evil 5 will arrive just two years after Afterlife, which will be the shortest wait yet of the franchise. Apocalypse opened two and a half years after the first movie, while there were three-year waits for Extinction and Afterlife.